The next generation of New York firefighters are passionate about “resilience.”
The valedictorian of an FDNY Specialized High School in Brooklyn described how she overcame an “abusive” home and found “comfort” in the classroom as she joyfully graduated with dozens of other students on Wednesday.
“Growing up in an abusive home, I often felt like life was like sailing through a storm with no end in sight,” Kaylee Frank, 17, who was at the top of her class at Captain Vernon A. Richard High School of Fire and Life Safety, said in an emotional graduation speech.
“But in those darkest moments, I discovered strength I never knew I had,” Frank, from Park Slope, declared. “Education became a sanctuary for me, a place where I could escape the chaos and find solace in knowledge…My teachers and mentors became my guiding lights.”
“This is my way of dealing with adversity,” the tough-as-nails teenager later told The Washington Post.
During the ceremony, Frank and the 32 other graduates were cheered by a large crowd of friends and family gathered at the FDNY Training Academy on Randalls Island.
Fire Chief Laura Kavanagh gave a speech praising the Class of 2024 for persevering during the COVID pandemic, which has taken away their social lives and normal classroom routines.
“Through these unprecedented times, marked by the disruption caused by the pandemic, you have already learned about the unpredictability of life,” Kavanagh told the graduates.
“Halfway through your first year, your normal routines of spending time with friends and family, going out and being normal teenagers came to a halt. Despite these challenges, you persevered, and today’s graduation is a testament to your adaptability and tenacity — two essential attributes of the FDNY,” she said.
“You can plan and do everything right, but unexpected challenges are bound to arise,” she stressed.
Overall, 21 of the graduates will complete the FDNY Entrance Exam Prep course and nine will move on to the FDNY Youth Summer EMS Academy.
Frank said she plans to start Youth Summer EMS Academy classes in July and hopes to become a paramedic.
“I just want to be an example to all the other girls who feel like they can’t do it,” she said. “The impossible is always possible.”
She described a tumultuous home life, saying she and her mother “didn’t have a good relationship.”
“It was especially hard seeing other girls have mothers too,” she said, without elaborating on the alleged abuse.
“Sometimes I wish I had a mother to support me, but at the same time I have had to face my adversity head on,” Frank said.
“I can’t let it be assumed, ‘Oh, she has an abusive parent,'” she says. “I want to show the world that I am more than my struggles, I am more than my difficulties.”
Captain Vernon A. Richard High School was named in honor of the Brooklyn-born FDNY firefighter who died on 9/11.
